Türkiye’s current account surplus rises to $566 mln in July

ANKARA

Türkiye’s current account balance posts a surplus for the second month in a row in July, data from the Central Bank have shown.

The current account surplus increased from $330 million in June to $566 million in July.

The decreasing current account deficit and increasing foreign inflows contribute to permanent reserve accumulation, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, commenting on the latest current account data.

“Thanks to the confidence in our program that we have implemented, capital inflows, including net errors and omissions, excluding reserves, reached $43.3 billion in the last year,” Şimşek said.

“We aim to make the gains we have achieved in macroeconomic and financial stability permanent and to take them even further with structural reforms. We will continue our efforts to attract international direct investments to our country,” the minister added.

Excluding gold and energy, the current account balance indicated a net surplus of $4.88 billion, the bank said on Sept. 12.

Goods deficit widened from $4.2 billion in June to $5.1 billion in July, while travel item recorded a net inflow of $5.6 billion.

Direct investment recorded a net inflow of $670 million, following a net inflow of $455 million in the previous month. In the first eight months of 2024, net direct investment inflows amounted to $2.66 billion, slightly lower than the inflow of $2.75 billion a year ago.

Portfolio investment inflows rose from $589 million in June to $3.7 billion in July, bringing the total inflows to $15.9 billion in the first eight months of the year.

Non-residents’ transactions on equity securities recorded net sales of $21 million and government domestic debt securities recorded net purchases of $2.48 billion, the bank said.

Non-resident banks’ deposit accounts held within domestic banks increased by $1.26 billion, with an increase of $326 million in foreign currency and an increase of $934 million in Turkish Lira accounts.

Official reserves increased by $5.37 billion, according to the bank.

The current account deficit came in at $16.05 billion in January-July, down from $42 billion a year ago.

The annualized current account deficit declined from $24.98 billion in June to $19.09 billion in July.